Wheaton Warrenville South visits Naperville North – 7:30PM Friday
Given the stature of the football programs at both Wheaton Warrenville South and Naperville North, postseason appearances are expectations, not accomplishments.
Yet in a year in which the DuPage Valley Conference is experiencing a transition phase as it prepares to welcome Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley and Metea Valley into the fold next fall, a postseason without two of the stalwarts of perhaps the best conference in the state is very possible.
In what amounts to an elimination game, Wheaton Warrenville South and Naperville North meet Friday night at Harshbarger-Welzel Field with identical 2-4 records and facing the need to win out just to become playoff eligible.
“We’re both in the same boat (and) have to win and there’s several teams in the conference that are in that same boat. So it’s been a tough year for the DVC,” Tigers’ coach Ron Muhitch said. “I didn’t really anticipate that at the end of the season where this would hold true for really five out of those six teams that are in the same boat, with Naperville Central being the only team that has a lock to get in.”
In Muhitch’s 12 seasons entering this season, the Tigers had missed the postseason just twice, in 2002 and 2012, while Naperville North hasn’t missed the postseason since 1996 – a streak of 17 straight postseason trips led by both Larry McKeon and Sean Drendel.
Muhitch referenced to the overall lack of depth in the conference this year as a reason for three of the six schools entering Week 7 at 2-4, Wheaton North being the other, and having to win out just to become playoff eligible.
Running backs Jonathon Johnson and Michael Campos, along with a Western Michigan commit in wide receiver Keishawn Watson, have been the playmakers for a Tigers’ offense that has only topped double digits three times in six games.
Johnson’s two touchdown runs against the Lancers, including a three-yard TD run in overtime, helped stave off postseason elimination for at least one more week for Wheaton Warrenville South (2-4, 1-1).
Johnson, Campos and senior linebacker Tommy Vitale, whose brother plays at Northwestern, have been relied upon to take pressure off quarterback Josh Prueter, who has thrown only one touchdown pass in the last three weeks.
“I mean, they’re a little bit different (offensively than in the past). They’re more of a zone-read team than a Wildcat team, which isn’t traditional Wheaton South,” Drendel said. “But you try to find ways to get his really good athletes the ball, let them make plays. He’s got Johnson and Campos and Watson and Vitale. I mean, he’s got playmakers and it’s just you got to get them a lot of open space and let them make plays.”
The last two weeks have seen Chris Gajcak and Evan Kujawski split time at quarterback for the Huskies, a trend that may continue Friday night.
Gajcak caught eight Kujawski passes for 88 yards in Naperville North’s 27-6 loss to Naperville Central last week while tossing a touchdown pass to Matt Herring in the third quarter to finally get Naperville North (2-4, 0-2) on the board.
The struggles both teams have exhibited, at times, offensively throughout the year have put both coaches in positions to try to do different things, whether it be implementing a two-quarterback system or playing people both ways, which Muhitch admitted he’s not a big fan of.
“I think that’s a state of the union comment in the whole conference. Everybody’s got great defenses, including (Naperville North). I think (Naperville North’s) defense is better than advertised,” Muhitch said. “They’re athletic. Their D-line has got some good tenacity and some discipline and their linebackers and their two safeties run well. So I think they’re in the same boat as everybody else in the conference with great defense and an identity crisis on offense, which I think it is for most teams in the conference.”
A conference routinely accustomed to getting four or even five teams into the postseason has qualified just three teams twice in the last 12 years coming into this year—2002 and 2012.
With three teams at 2-4 and another at 3-3, finding teams to join defending 8A state champion Naperville Central in the postseason could be difficult.
For both Naperville North and Wheaton Warrenville South, the situation is simple.
“We got to find a way to get a win this week and battle for another week,” Drendel said. “That’s kind of what we talk about all week is we’re in playoff mode, just like Wheaton South is. The winner’s still alive and the loser’s done for the year. So that’s the harsh reality of being in our conference, especially this year with having to play a team twice. There’s no freebies in our conference this year.”
